Stained
by ClaireJackson
Summary: Scully accidentally stains William's baby blanket.


The pen hadn't been worth stealing.

She'd taken it from the gas station countertop while Mulder paid the attendant, had glanced at him from underneath her baseball cap, and then slipped it into her baggy jeans pocket and pulled the hem of her plain white t-shirt down to cover its outline.

She took it because they didn't have anything to write with and Scully suddenly liked the idea of writing letters to William.

Back at the car, she'd stuffed it in their suitcase hastily and then sat in the front seat. She forgot about it for the rest of the day.

When they arrived at the motel after nine and a half hours on the road, all Scully wanted to do was shower and shave and sleep.

"I'm going for food," Mulder said, thumbing through the dollar bills in his pocket. He took some and left the rest tucked inside one of the running shoes Scully had just kicked off, before grabbing the keys and disappearing out the door.

Somewhere along the way, the tip of the pen had unscrewed itself in her suitcase and ink leaked all over her Wal-Mart purchased standard white t-shirts and Mulder's grey boxer shorts. When she opened her suitcase to pull out her bag of toiletries, the sticky black ink smudged across her fingertips.

She sighed and muttered a curse through gritted teeth.

She pulled out all the clothes that were in the bag and spread them on the carpet at the foot of the bed. It looked like she and Mulder had adopted a litter of Dalmatian puppies. At the bottom of the suitcase lay the pen, wrapped up in the last piece of cloth that Scully always kept stuffed in the bottom corner.

She pulled out William's yellow baby blanket and shook it out. Splotches of ink had soaked through the bottom right corner and dotted upwards towards the centre.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," she whispered, and ran to the small bathroom. With shaking fingers, she tore the rough paper wrapping off the complementary bar of cheap soap and turned the tap on hot.

She rubbed at the blanket until the stream of hot water began to run cold. The stains didn't wash away.

Mulder came home and dropped a bag of food on the bedside table. "What the hell?" she dimly registered him saying as he came across their ruined clothes spread out on the floor.

"Hey, Scully – ," he pushed the bathroom door open.

"I know, I'm so stupid, I'm such a fucking idiot," she cut him off, and suddenly she noticed that her cheeks were wet from crying.

Mulder just stood in the doorway looking at her, and she stared at her hands as they rubbed the blanket and soap. The fluorescent lightbulb in the ceiling flickered irritatingly.

"C'mon, Scully," he finally said, and he reached over to turn off the tap. "Come on." He took the soap and placed it on the corner of the sink.

Back in the bedroom, he gathered the clothes into a pile and set them on the armchair in the corner. He stuffed the suitcase under the bed and threw the pen in the garbage.

Scully stood in the middle of the room clutching William's blanket and trying not to think about the fact that the last untainted thing she had from him was ruined.

"It doesn't even smell like him now," she whispered, bringing the blanket to her nose. "Now it smells like that fucking lilac soap."

"I'm sorry, Scully." Mulder walked over and she leaned her head into his bony shoulder. His fingers began combing out her knotted hair. "I'm sorry."

"No Mulder," she whispered, "I'm the one who's sorry."

Mulder took the wet blanket and hung it to dry on the shower curtain rod.

Mulder kissed her forehead and took the wet blanket and hung it to dry on the shower curtain rod.

In bed, he held her closer than usual. Scully liked space to stretch her legs out, otherwise she got restless, but tonight she tucked her head under his chin and let him wrap his leg over her thigh. He lightly scratched his fingers through her hair, and it was just like when she was in the hospital with cancer, when he'd rub her head to help with the headaches.

"We do our best, Scully," he whispered in her ear as she lingered in the limbo between consciousness and sleep. "That's all anybody can ask. You're okay. It's going to be okay."

She kissed his neck and let herself fall into a peaceful sleep.

The next evening when they left, preferring to drive in the dark, Scully packed all their clothes back into the suitcase, and tucked William's blanket under her arm. When Mulder pulled the car around, he stuffed the suitcase into the small trunk.

"I'll drive first," he said, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. "Just gotta give our room key back."

She nodded. She climbed into the passenger seat, and shook William's blanket open. She spread it across her knees and waited for Mulder to come back.


End file.
